His eyes closed and he took deep breaths. He’d give anything to hold her, to inhale her feminine scent and touch her. A soft growl tore from his parted lips, his dick ached more, and he knew it would be another rough night of tossing and turning. There was no forgetting Ellie.

Chapter Six

Ellie laughed. “Come on, Monarch. You can totally do this.”

Monarch, a blonde-haired woman just under six feet tall, examined the vacuum with disgust. “It’s too loud and I’m afraid it’s going to suck up my toes.”

Ellie lifted her hand to cover her mouth, trying to hide her amusement. “We all think that. Trust me. I promise you, though, if you point it away from you, that won’t happen. You’ve mastered the washing machine and your cooking skills with a microwave are wonderful. You can handle this beast.”

Monarch sighed. “Fine, but it hurts my ears.”

Destiny, a black-haired woman, cheered her on. Monarch flipped on the vacuum and pushed it around the living room carpet without causing injury. Ellie grinned. Whatever the cause, for the past three weeks the women had accepted her. They’d allowed her to talk to them, laugh with them, and teach them household education.

“Ellie?”

Ellie spun to face Breeze with a grin. The tall New Species had really been helpful to Ellie with the other women. Breeze had been appointed leader inside the women’s dorm. She and some of the other women were going to classes during the day to obtain the basic education they’d been denied. They’d just arrived back at the dorm.

“What’s up?”

Breeze looked grim. “We need to speak privately.”

“Oh.” Ellie suffered a moment of confusion. “Of course.”

She knew something had to be wrong. Breeze led her toward the bathroom, which stumped her more. Rusty and Kit waited by the door. Breeze shoved it open and Ellie followed her inside. Sunshine checked stalls to make sure they weren’t in use.

“All clear,” Sunshine announced. “We are alone.”

Ellie glanced over her shoulder as the door closed to find Rusty and Kit blocked the exit. Ellie shifted her attention to Breeze. “What is going on?”

Breeze sighed. “You can’t leave the dorm without one of us with you. I want you to sleep inside my room or one of us will stay inside yours. You are to never be without one of us near you.”

“Um…why?” Ellie arched her eyebrows as she glanced at each woman.

Breeze held her attention with a frown. “Fury is outside again. We didn’t want to frighten you but we’ve seen him examining the building on many occasions. Last night he came closer and we suspect he is testing the security to find a way inside.”

Shock rolled through Ellie. “Why would he do that?”

A loud alarm suddenly started to blast out sharp warnings, startling all five women. Ellie knew it wasn’t the fire alarm, the pitch was too high. It was the lockdown signal. She moved fast, fleeing the bathroom. Kit and Rusty were ahead of her as she ran to the front door but no one stood there attempting to break in. The alarm continued to scream. Ellie turned and saw a dozen New Species women rush toward her.

“Lockdown,” Ellie yelled. “Go.”

Ellie moved and grabbed the emergency phone from the wall. It rang once before someone at the security building answered. “This is Ellie Brower from the women’s dorm. What is going on?” She made sure the door had automatically locked by giving it a tug.

“We have a breach,” the security guard yelled over the phone, their fear apparent. “One of those activists groups have broken through the main gate. We have forces headed your way but make sure your women are secure and the doors are closed.”

“Son of a bitch,” Ellie ground out. She slammed the phone down and spun around to discover some of the women were still there.

“It’s those crazy ass**les who have been protesting outside the gates about—” She pressed her lips together, finding no polite way to finish that sentence. “Go lock yourselves inside your rooms please. The main gate has been breached but security is on the way. We’ll be absolutely safe inside.”

Breeze cursed. “It’s the humans who think we should be killed, isn’t it?”

Ellie couldn’t deny it so she didn’t try. “They’re stupid. They should go home and wait for their alien spaceships to come get their crazy asses because I don’t count them as human. They should go back to their own planet and leave ours alone.”

Sunshine snorted as she strolled away. “I’ll be in my room then.”

Breeze showed her anger by wrinkling her nose. “We will wait here with you.”

Ellie shook her head. “You know its protocol to go to your rooms. I’ll be fine. I need to stand here to man the door in case some of our women need to be let inside. Some are still out there on the way back from school. Those ass**les busted through the main gate and they might have guns. I want you safe. My job is to stay here and it’s yours to go upstairs.”

Breeze hesitated.

“Please? I’m fine,” Ellie swore.

Breeze jerked her head toward the women who still stood there, indicating they should go. Ellie blew out the deep breath she’d held, relieved, while she watched them head for the stairs. They avoided the elevators that wouldn’t work with the alarms triggered. She faced the door to stare outside, spotting nothing out of the ordinary.

She hated activists who targeted the New Species Organization. Ever since the news outlets had broken the story about the research testing-facility survivors, some hate groups had popped up, claiming the victims were nothing but animals, ones they believed didn’t have rights and should be destroyed. Ellie clenched her teeth. The only animals who needed put down, in her opinion, were the ones who threatened the well-being of New Species.